15 Video Game Firsts We Take For Granted
Where do those double jumps and exploding red barrels come from?
It's hard to forget, when you're kicking back on the sofa, controller in hand, that games are made up of some truly amazing technology.
You could almost say that we take these things for granted. Now, more than ever, we expect our games to work well, have stunning graphics and wow us with their technological prowess.
All this wonderful technology had to come from somewhere though! Some of the mechanics and tropes in video games we now take for granted in gaming may not have even existed as soon as 20 years ago.
For example, how do you generally move around your games? Those analogue sticks, right? There was time when those didn't exist and all you had was a D-pad. Or what about those infernal QTEs? Once over, gamers didn't have to suffer through them at all.
We're even spoiled now with online multiplayer, where you can jump in quickly and easily to fight friends from around the world. You'll be amazed where multiplayer gaming actually came from - it was first produced for a device that isn't even meant for use in gaming!
15. First-Ever Animated Cutscene
Video game cutscenes are part of pretty much every single game ever created in the last 40 or so years.
You know what these are - you're playing away, and then the control is taken from you and you're presented with a lovely cinematic bit of story exposition. They've become a gaming essential, particularly as games have got more and more cinematic.
But do you know the first-ever game to actually include an animated cutscene which the player had no direct control over?
Well, it's a game you're more than likely familiar with: Pac-Man. First released in 1980, Pac-Man included a selection of very brief, comical animated cutscenes which would show Pac-Man and Blinky the ghost chasing each other.
Space Invaders Part II, which was released the same year, also used a similar technique for cutscenes. It was just pipped at the post by that pesky portly pill-gobbler.
It's quite far from the massive, big-budget, motion-captured cutscenes we get nowadays, isn't it?